Randall Terry Does PR for Murder: Is Attorney General Eric Holder Paying Attention?

BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS
by Meg White

In his recent warning about "murder and the coming convulsions," he sounds like a domestic terrorist, plain and simple. I'm merely suggesting we start treating him like one.

Anti-choice activist Randall Terry has gone way too far this time. Attorney General Eric Holder has both the legal and moral imperative to begin an investigation into Terry's threats of violence before someone else pays the ultimate price for his efforts to quench his massive ego and probably equally-massive debt.

Terry sent out a press release announcing a cabal Tuesday afternoon for anti-choice advocates to get together and plan their next move should healthcare reform include family planning services such as abortion.

While his rhetoric is often sprinkled with inflammatory words like "murder" and "evil," Terry's latest press release is a clear effort to exercise the outer limits of acceptable behavior. Terry tells the press "the sheer horror and frustration of such an evil policy will lead some people to absolutely refuse to pay their taxes. And I believe -- if my reading of history from America and around the world is correct -- that there are others who will be tempted to acts of violence. If the government of this country tramples the faith and values of its citizens, history will hold those in power responsible for the violent convulsions that follow."

Not only are anti-choice activists bound to act out violently according to Terry, but it will be politicians' faults -- not the activists' -- when they do. He followed up the first release with a second one, declaring that "Pelosi and Co. cannot expect millions of Americans to betray God, and to pay for the murder of their neighbor without something snapping."

I wrote about conservatives' efforts to use the choice issue as a convenient way to kill healthcare reform earlier this month, but Terry is different. In this case, he is using healthcare reform to cloak his violent message in legitimacy.

The ultimate example of Terry's efforts in this vein is evident in this video to "pro-life leaders" after the murder of Dr. George Tiller. Terry blatantly uses the story to advance himself and the movement:

Terry's recent press release isn't about healthcare reform. Much like his protest at the confirmation hearings of Judge Sonia Sotomayor, where Terry and his followers smeared fake blood on the copies of the Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade, this is about Terry launching himself back into the spotlight in any way that he feels will be efficacious. (In fact, Christy Hardin Smith suggests at Fire Dog Lake that Terry's "anti-Sotomayor tour" might skirt the line of legality as well.)

A most timely and revealing profile of Terry in the Washington Post reveals this "leader" to be little more than a broke showman. His launch of the reborn Operation Rescue Insurrecta Nex (which the Post translates as "insurrection against death") just as the original Operation Rescue group continues without him (recently denouncing his actions as "unbiblical") is buttressed by his new radio show and his dreams of television.

The Post story reveals that abortion protest is Terry's last, best hope to climb out of debt:

He refuses to reveal much about his finances, which have never fully recovered from his bankruptcy. He raises money through mailings to what he describes as a small list of supporters, who pay the family's rent and the expenses for his current organization, the Society for Truth and Justice. The group, he said, has spent more than $80,000 printing and mailing out hundreds of thousands of booklets promoting his latest endeavors. He said he supports his family by writing fundraising material for nonprofit organizations. Supporters also helped him buy a $400,000 house in a gated community in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., which he said he is now struggling to sell.

The profile also notes Terry's approach to public relations, which is a heavy-handed one to say the least:

He courts the media assiduously, with frequent phone calls and events. Recently, he offered Guinness beer and chicken wings at a media event at the National Press Club in downtown Washington.

When one reporter arrived at his house for an interview, the Terry family and several supporters greeted her with balloons, confetti, welcome signs and a hearty round of "For she's a jolly good journalist." Everyone, including Terry's wife, looked delighted with their performance.

Former friends and colleagues have been distancing themselves from Terry for years. One describes Terry's "foul language, self justifying spirit and martyr's complex" in an introduction to another scathing profile.

But abortion activism is his bread and butter, and it's clear Terry is willing to go pretty far in order to fulfill his need to lead. He recently moved to the Washington area to be closer to the political action, and he was willing to declare bankruptcy and go to federal prison in the past for his cause.

Terry had been fading from the spotlight for years. He waged an unsuccessful battle to represent Terri Schiavo's parents that did not convert to public accolades. He got some attention with his gruesome protests at President Obama's address at Notre Dame earlier this year (which he unequivocally labeled as a "battle" to be fought), but his true success came from his shocking statement that murdered doctor George Tiller got what he deserved.

This is the point at which we all remembered who Randall Terry was.

I can just imagine Terry thinking, subconsciously or not, "So that's what the media needs these days to encourage the spotlight's glare? The sanction of murder?"

Now he's doing one better by actually threatening murder.

Terry is not crazy. He clearly sees what he is doing and is fiercely protective over his own family as he seeks to destroy the lives of his ideological opponents. From the portion of his Washington Post profile that references his family:

Terry lives with [wife] Andrea, 34, and their four boys in a rented two-story brick colonial in Northern Virginia. (Andrea, a petite, quick-witted brunette who home-schools their children, ages 2 to 6, declined to be interviewed for this article.) Terry insists that the location of his home not be published because, he said, he has received death threats. He sees no irony in his having participated in demonstrations at the homes of abortion doctors.

Terry's involvement in violent protests and his support for murderers such as James Charles Kopp, convicted of second-degree murder in the 1998 death of a doctor at a clinic in Buffalo, NY are detailed here by Media Matters. Perhaps in the course of the Justice Department's recently-opened investigation into the murder of Dr. Tiller, more of a connection between the murderer and Terry will be revealed.

The attorney general is not blind to likes of Terry. Holder recently affirmed the illegality of the words and possible actions of Terry and his followers in a speech before the Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, when he referenced the brutal killing of Dr. Tiller (emphasis mine):

But neither our respect for the First Amendment’s guarantee of free speech, nor our earnest hope for common ground, can justify the violence we saw in Kansas. We will not tolerate murder, or the threat of violence, masquerading as political activism. So let me be clear, the Justice Department will use every tool at its disposal to protect the rights ensured under our constitution. And we will do all that we can to deter violence against reproductive healthcare providers and to prosecute those who commit such violence to the fullest extent of the law.

If that speech means anything, the Justice Department must immediately investigate the threats voiced by Terry, assuming an investigation has not already been opened.

BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS